The present invention relates generally to forage wagons, and more particularly relates to bottom unloading forage wagons.
Forage wagons have been employed in the agriculture industry for collecting and disposing of large quantities of materials found in any farming operation, typically silage or haylage. Generally, a forage wagon is pulled behind or alongside a forage harvester which collects the material and loads it into a large bin or dump box defined by the wagon. The various types of harvesters are well-known and will not be described here. The large bin is mounted on a wheeled frame and a closure member is operatively connected to the bottom or the sides of the bin to dump the contents. The closure members are actuated to an open position by way of mechanical, electrical or hydraulic means.
Commonly, such closure members are not thoroughly satisfactory because they do not open with sufficient readiness, and further their designs do not dump the load freely enough. Accordingly, there exists the need to provide a forage wagon that quickly and easily unloads its contents.
A forage wagon is provided for loading and unloading material. The wagon generally comprises a pair of opposing sidewalls connected to a front wall and a rear wall, the walls extending vertically to define a storage chamber. Further, a bottom wall is formed by two bottom doors, each bottom door having inner and outer edges. The outer edges are pivotally connected to the opposing sidewalls. Notably, each of the two bottom doors is operable between a closed position for loading and an open position for unloading. The bottom doors rotate from the closed position to the open position under gravity. The closed position is defined by the inner edges mating to form a substantially continuous bottom wall, while the open position is defined by the inner edges being spaced apart to form a bottom opening for unloading material.
According to more detailed aspects, a latch retains the bottom doors in the closed position, wherein release of the latch frees the bottom doors to swing open under gravity to the open position. An actuator is operatively connected to the bottom doors to move the bottom doors from the open position to the closed position.
In further details, the rear wall includes a rear door, the rear door having a top edge and a bottom edge, the bottom edge mating with the bottom doors, the rear door pivotally mounted adjacent the top edge.
The material exiting the bottom opening forces the rear door to pivot outwardly to form a rear opening, the rear opening and the bottom opening combining to form a large dispensing opening.
In one embodiment, the bottom doors are angled inwardly and downwardly to form a general V-shape, preferably angled at between 30xc2x0 and 60xc2x0 relative to vertical. Further, a pair of front wheels and a pair or rear wheels support the wagon for travel, the rear wheels each being spaced laterally outside each of the sidewalls to straddle unloaded material. Preferably, the rear wheels are not connected by an axle.
Other objectives and advantages of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.